“Any messages before I leave?” Logan asked Jessica Mills, his executive office manager.
She jumped up from her keyboard as if a spider had just landed in her lap.
“Um, no sir. Nothing new to report.”
“Ok,” He replied giving a nod to Kris who was still acting jumpy from the encounter with him earlier.
He stepped on the elevator and pressed the button to close the door. As the door closed he took another look at his two beautiful office staffers. He had hired them not just because of their beauty but because they were the best at what they did. And he paid them both very handsomely. But them being beautiful was definitely the icing on the cake. Not that he had ever initiated anything with either of them. That was just a stupid lawsuit waiting to happen and he wasn’t about to dip his pen in the company ink.
He made his way to the limo where his driver was waiting for him and gave him the itinerary of the properties they were visiting that day. There were several large houses that he was interested in flipping. He had a few meetings lined up that would place him close to Bagoda’s Restaurant for his lunch meeting with Tony. It was going to be cutting it close but Logan was fast enough at evaluating a property’s potential value as a money machine that he would make it work.
The first property he stopped was an interesting property in a rapidly developing high end neighborhood. He was greeted by a beautiful tall, blonde realtor with a perfect smile. The moment she laid eyes on him she began to get “the look”. Logan was very familiar with the look. He happened to be the most eligible bachelor in the city. He was worth over four billion at last count, not even mentioning a lot of his nontaxable income and assets. He was blessed with rugged good looks as well. He had been told several times in his life that he resembles a taller, more buff version of Mathew McConaughey and he had noticed the resemblance himself a time or two, especially with the deep dimples in his smile.
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” the realtor said. “I’m Angela Myers.”
“Logan,” he replied.
“Oh, yes. I’m very familiar with who you are,” she flirted back.
Logan smiled briefly and began walking towards the house. He could feel the realtor’s eyes traveling over his body, admiring with a healthy dose of lust the striations of his body through his custom fitted Armani suit.
He wondered if it would be as admirable if she knew he spent three hours a day in the gym. Nothing great comes easily in this world. He lived his entire life based on that principle.
The realtor showed him through each story of the house giving him the typical realtor speech to make each property sound better than it was. Logan was mostly tuning her out to pay attention to the structure of the place, trying to envision what a talented architect and contractor could accomplish to double the value of the home with the least amount of work possible.
It was probably going to cost about two hundred thousand dollars to bring the property up to his specifications, but he would increase the value of the house about six hundred thousand dollars and pocket a nice little profit. It was as easy as pie.
“So, what do you think?” Angela said when the tour was through. They had ended up in the kitchen where a bottle of wine and a couple glasses were waiting. Logan thought this was strange at eleven in the morning but he did not bat an eye when Angela handed the wine to him.
Wine was good anytime.
She was standing very close to him now, flirting hardcore.
“I’ll take it,” Logan said. He finished the wine and stepped back. He smiled at Angela who seemed confused. She was no doubt not used to being rejected by men. The woman looked like a supermodel in a business suit. It always made Logan laugh to reject a beautiful woman. And it only made them want him that much more.
“Just send all the paperwork to my office,” Logan said walking towards the car. “I’ll have everything taken care of and back in your hands by the end of the day.”
“Um, ok… I will… “Angela said trying to keep up with him.
“Thanks,” Logan said stepping into the back of the limo.
“It was a pleasure to meet you…”
The door cut her off mid-sentence. Logan did not even glance her way. The driver got in and soon they were on their way to the next location.
Logan smiled as he they drove off. Angela was a smoking hot and he would have loved to give her a good heave or two, but not now. Not since the last woman he was really involved with.
He hated thinking about it but it seemed that every woman out there was determined to force him to dwell on the aftermath of what had happened with Rachel. It was a thorn in his side that no matter how hard he tried it just would not budge. It was wedged tightly deep within him and it was nonstop bleeding profusely.
Six months ago, Rachel Billings had taken advantage of Logan and almost ripped him off for almost fifty million dollars. She might have actually gotten away with it, if he was not so paranoid about such a thing happening that he had several different private investigators working for him alongside accountants who went over his books constantly for strange activity.
Rachel was a realtor he had fallen pretty hard for, which was rare. Logan had been with too many women to count in his life, but he had only fallen in love with one of them. That was Rachel. She was like the culmination of every single thing he’d ever admired out of all of the most special relationships he’d had. All of those qualities had been put together and sat inside of the beautiful package that was Rachel Billings.
The two of them met on a scouting trip for new properties and just hit it off right away. They dated for almost six months. Everything was going great until one of the accountants noticed a payment that had been made to an unrecognized entity and deposited in an offshore account. They investigated further and found that it was an account set up by Rachel Billings.
Logan ended everything with her. He would have pressed charges but that sort of negative press was something he did not need. And there would be press, no matter how had he tried to keep such a thing under wraps. Things like that always got leaked, especially with the information age upon us.
He’d never felt such a sense of betrayal and total confusion before. Logan knew that he was deeply in love with Rachel and to have someone he cared about so much do this to him was just devastating beyond words. He couldn’t even describe how he felt, even after all these months of dwelling on it in the back of his mind.
And he’d changed. His staff saw it. They all knew that he was growing more reclusive and becoming more disillusioned with humanity. He was just so angry all the time and he didn’t know why. Even when he wasn’t thinking about Rachel he felt the betrayal, saw it in everything that was before him. It was bleeding over into every area of his life. He had to find a way to get back to who he was before all of this.
He was even starting to lose business because of it. Word had gotten around about a few of his epic meltdowns in business meetings. Several lawsuits had come at him recently that he quietly settled out of court against now former employees who accused him of threats and of creating a hostile work environment.
It had to stop, but he couldn’t stop it. It was like he saw red all the time and this blind rage just overtook him to the point of insanity. After an outburst, he would come back to earth and realize how insane he’d just behaved. He would want to apologize but somehow could not bring himself to do it. He was starting to frighten himself and had considered therapy, but he couldn’t very well be seen or heard of doing such a thing. As a billionaire businessman, he was somehow held up to a higher moral compass than other people and if he showed the world he was indeed flawed then his business would truly suffer.
He just had to find a way to get a grip on it all. It had been six months but it still felt like yesterday. He was still so heartbroken over it all. Even after what she did he found himself really wishing he could hold Rachel and tell her how much he still loved her, how much he still missed her.
And then he wou
ld snap out of the daydream and want to strangle himself for such stupidity. She had betrayed him, and that was something she could never come back from.
She was a true piece of work that one.
Logan closed his eyes and focused on deep breathing to relax himself as they approached the restaurant. He just needed a nice leisurely lunch with one of his best clients to go well. They both stood to make millions on this deal.
He took a deep breath and stepped out of the car putting a sweet smile on his face as he entered the restaurant.
It was show time
Chapter 4
Gabby
Gabby looked around the fine Italian restaurant and immediately felt out of place. She felt that the dress she was wearing was not up to code with the wealthy people she saw sitting around her. She wanted to crawl under a rock as she sat at the table with her father who was right at home it seemed. She didn’t get it.
She’d arrived in New York City that just a few hours ago and her father immediately suggested going out to eat at this restaurant. He told her that it was his favorite. She had no idea it was an upscale place until they arrived and she almost ran out the door. There was no way she could afford anything on the menu.
“That’s ok, sweetheart. I’ve got this,” her father said.
“Dad, how are you able to afford this?”
“I worked for a lot of years and lived well below my means,” he reminded her.
She thought a moment. It was true that her father had never really bought anything remotely expensive except booze and he stopped drinking years ago. He worked until the point he was forced to retire by his disease, so it was quite feasible he had some cash squared away, or at least enough to splurge for the occasional fancy dinner.
“Then why did you need my help with medical bills?” Gabby asked suddenly feeling used and foolish.
Her father laughed. “Ok, I guess I can’t outsmart my girl. The money was to help aunt Shelly. Your aunt Shelly finally got her settlement money from that car accident she was in last year. She doesn’t want people to know. Somehow, she feels almost guilty for taking the money. I have never been able to figure her out.”
“Oh, well I guess I’ll thank her then. She didn’t want to come with us?”
“No, she didn’t. And you’ll do no such thing. Mums the word sweetie,” her father said.
Gabby smiled. Her aunt Shelly had always been crazy, or as the family called her “eccentric”. A year ago, she’d been rear ended hard and suffered a severe back injury. It had taken a long time to get the settlement but she finally did it looked like. Her back would always be messed up to an extent, which was the reason why Shelly needed more help with her father. There would be no way she could do it alone. While Gabby was slightly annoyed that her money had been used to help aunt Shelly without her knowledge, she couldn’t blame her family for needing help.
The waiter brought them a nice bottle of red wine and poured their glasses for them being sure to give the bottle the signature twist at the end to not spill a drop down the side. Gabby thought it was fun to watch people doing small little rituals like that. For whatever reason, it had always made her feel very special. But the times had been rare.
They put their order in and proceeded to munch on bread, salad, and soup. The conversation was pretty light at first, but soon turned to more serious things, mostly at the urging of her father who had lost his ability to read the look on her face that said certain topics were off limits.
“So, what happened with Adam?” Her father asked.
Gabby groaned. It was like her mother had made a phone call ahead and told her father to talk to her about every touchy issue under the sun.
“I don’t want to talk about it, dad,” Gabby said.
“Ok,” her father said. He sipped some soup. “So, what is wrong with Adam? I heard you guys broke up? I thought you had a good thing with that kid.”
“Dad, I said I don’t want to talk about it. Can we just eat?” Gabby snapped.
From the look on her father’s face she realized that he did not remember asking her the first time. She was instantly sorry she’d snapped at him. It was so weird to see her father this way. He seemed so normal most of the time but then suddenly it would go away and he wouldn’t remember where he was or what he was doing. Shelly said it was far worse of the evening when he was tired. She said he might have a few fits today because he had not slept well last night. He was up all night with bad heartburn.
“What is your plan while you are here?” Her father asked.
“Well, I’m not sure yet. I mean I thought I’d search around and see if there are any secretarial jobs, office manager jobs; that sort of thing. At least for starters. And then I can plan my next moves accordingly after that.”
“Ok, that sounds good. You don’t need to take care of me, despite what my bat crazy sister might have told you. I can take care of myself.”
Gabby smiled. “I know you want to think that dad, but you do have an illness.”
“Aggh. Those quack doctors don’t have a clue what they are talking about.”
Gabby laughed. Her dad was still a bit of a cut up.
It was then that she noticed him. Sitting at the table right next to theirs. Did he just sit down? There was no way he was there before and she hadn’t noticed him.
Sitting there just a few feet from her was perhaps the best-looking guy she’d ever seen. He looked like a male model, only a bit more rugged. He was dressed impeccably with a beautiful suit, gold watch, several large, gold rings on the fingers of his left hand, but no wedding band. He was clean cut with short, dark hair that had been gelled and styled. He turned his head to face her and eyes caught. Gabby felt the whole room around her vanish.
His eyes were intense and dark, with a slight amber tone to them. Gabby fidgeted slightly under his gaze as she felt his eyes bore through her. His jaw was strong and straight, as if it were almost clenched. His lips twitched as a slow smile spread across his face. His body language was relaxed but economical, with no wasted movement. He seemed like the type of guy you would not want to mess with.
But he was beautiful.
Gabby quickly looked away and immediately started to get a bit nervous. She was now suddenly aware of her body and what she was doing with every single finger, every toe, and even every eye blink. It was now ten degrees hotter in the restaurant and she could feel individual droplets of sweat moving out of her body and trickling down her skin.
She wiped at her brow casually. Her father didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh, this is good food,” her father said stuffing his mouth with pasta. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a finer experience then at this restaurant.”
“How often do you come here?” Gabby asked. She glanced back over at the stranger and he caught her eye again. This time he winked act her. Gabby blushed and looked back at her father.
“It’s only my third time,” he said with his mouth full.
Gabby let out a slight laugh. As they were walking to the restaurant, her father had told her that he comes to this place at least once a week.
Gabby took another bite of her pasta and tried to steal another glance at the stranger at the other table. Why the hell could she not stop staring at him?
She wanted him so badly. It had been almost three months since she’d actually had sex with a man and she wanted him. She had stopped really being attracted to Adam about that time and though he still pressured her to make love she just wasn’t in the mood. Of course, now she knew that she just wasn’t in the mood with him.
But she was in the mood for someone. And right now, that someone was this mysterious stranger. She swallowed another bite of pasta and continued to gaze at the man.
“I’ll be right back,” the man said standing from the table and starting to head towards the back. He made a point to look in Gabby’s direction as he did, and gave her a look that dared her to follow him.
Gabby blushed. Did he want her to follow him? S
he quickly began to formulate a plan. She had to have this man and it had to be right now. Surprising herself, she got up from her seat.
“I’m going to the ladies room,” she said getting up from the table and walking towards the back of the restaurant.
She didn’t know what she was doing. This was the craziest thing she’d ever attempted but she had to do something. The lust inside of her was about to burst and destroy her. The pressure below her waist was ready to erupt. She was ready and primed for him.
Gabby stood in front of the ladies room door for a second and glanced around. She hoped to hell no one would see her.
The coast was clear. Gabby stepped to the men’s room door and went inside. She quickly looked around hoping that there were no other men in there. Even if they were she might just smile and nod. She was a girl on a mission and she would not be stopped.
The room was empty except for him. He was standing in front of the mirror looking over at her with a mildly amused expression on his face. Oh, he was perfect looking.
Gabby smiled and walked over close to him. He smelled delicious. She couldn’t place the cologne, but it smelled expensive. The idea of licking every inch of his skin was titillating to say the least.
Before she could even say a word or make a sound he grabbed her and pulled her close. His mouth was on hers. The lips were heavy, smooth, broader than hers massaging her mouth and injecting new life into her very being as the lust paraded through her veins. She was already so wet.
He seemed to sense this as he jerked her skirt up and yanked her panties away, ripping them at the sides and tossing them on the sink. His thick, muscular fingers were quickly inside of her thrusting. She pushed her hips onto his hand and rolled them as he used his thumb to play with her clit.
Glock (The Bad Disciples MC Book 4) Page 30